Diverting resources to online

Indeed it is not surprising, Marais says, that many agencies have in recent years actually diverted resources from print advertising to developing, fine-tuning and promoting their own websites to local and global audiences.

The 2009 real estate survey, conducted by an independent researcher with the backing of IEASA and Property24 as well as the Estate Agency Affairs Board, is the second such poll ever conducted in the SA real estate industry, the first having been done in 2004 ? when only 62 percent of agents were using the internet to advertise.

Besides advertising preferences, the research probed a wide range of characteristics of agents and agencies, including demographics, business activities and compensation structures. It was distributed to 42 000 agents registered with the EAAB and although participation was entirely voluntary, it drew a strong response.